Message from the President | January 2021
On behalf of the World Trade Center Miami, I wish you and yours health and prosperity in the new year.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Board of Directors for the 2021 program year. Yesterday, we held our first Board of Directors meeting where our new Chair, Virginia Sanchez, Regional Director Government Affairs, American Airlines announced her priorities and committees. I look forward to working with the new board on developing a strategic plan, new initiatives to facilitate trade connections for Miami’s business community and, ramping up our promotion of Miami as the “Trade and Logistics Hub of the Americas”.
Officers
Chair: Virginia Sanchez, Regional Director, Government Affairs, American Airlines
First Vice-Chair: Christine Boldt, Executive V.P., Association of Floral Importers of Florida (AFIF)
Treasurer: Carolina Rendeiro, CEO, Connect2Global, Inc & Honorary Consul of Portugal in Miami
Directors
Desmond Alufohai, Director, Office of Protocol & Intl. Affairs, Miami International Airport
Christopher Concepcion, Marketing Manager, Seaboard Marine
Rafael Diaz-Balart, Latin American Coordinator, American Association of Port Authorities
Conchita Espinosa, Founder, Fru-Veg Marketing, Inc.
Marie Gill, Founder & President, M. Gill & Associates Inc.
Gary Goldfarb, Chief Strategy Officer, Interport Group of Companies
Jerry Haar, Professor and Executive Director for the Americas College of Business, Florida International University
Susan Harper, Consul General, Consulate General of Canada
Chris Hodgkins, CEO, MAT Concessionaire/PortMiami Tunnel
Fred Karlinsky, Shareholder/Co-Chair, GreenbergTraurig
Manuel Mencia, Senior Vice President International Trade & Business Development, Enterprise Florida, Inc.
Chris Mangos, Division Director, Marketing, Miami International Airport
Eric Olafson, Manager, Trade Development and FTZ 281, PortMiami
Olga Ramudo, President, Express Travel
Beth Sobol, Founder & CEO, Global Fashion Business Alliance
Barbie Pimentel, Director of Operations, SPR Cold Storage & Distribution, LLC
Frank Santeiro, Consultant, Conference of Latin American & Caribbean Express Companies (CLADEC)
Deborah Stern, Customs & Trade Attorney, Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg PA
Eduardo Torres, Director, South Florida U.S. Export Assistance Center, South Florida U.S. Export Assistance Center
Ilona Vega, Business Development, Downtown Development Authority
Frank Visconti, Chief Executive Officer, Centauri Transport
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